This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7119 and/or 365 to Patent Application Serial No. 200 11 229.5 filed in Germany on Jun. 26, 2000, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Conventional plastic stacking containers have a horseshoe-shaped stacking surface blown from the top surface and making it possible to stack a further container above this one.
If very high requirements are demanded for the stability in the stack of plastic stacking containers, particularly for liquid hazardous goods, it is recommended to configure the blown containers with a vaulted top surface and to set on this an additional, separate plastic injection molded part as the stacking cap, preferably with a horseshoe shape.
The configuration of such a stacking cap container confers the advantage that the plastic required for blowing out the stacking surface in conventional stacking containers can be saved. Furthermore, the barrel-shaped constitution of the upper surface increases the stack crushing pressure stability of the container and prevents buckling under heavy vertical loads.
Furthermore, the embodiment of a stacking container with stacking cap ensures a complete emptying of residue from the container, even when this is placed upside down.
A heretofore unsolved problem was the construction of a cost-saving, but at the same time also secure and releasable, elastic locking between the container""s top surface and the stacking cap.
The mounting of a conventional stacking cap takes place as a rule by means of complicated, labor-intensive bolt connections to the upper surface of the container.
In other embodiments, which correspond to the state of the art, the fixing of the stacking cap on the container""s top surface is effected in that the stacking cap supportively engages around the transitions from the upper surface into the vertical walls of the container, and centering occurs by means of a recess on the stacking cap which engages around the container mouth. In the latter case, a sideways slipping of the stacking cap under high stacking load or during transportation of a loaded pallet is not excluded.
The invention has as its object to provide a plastic container having a filling and pouring neck and a carrying handle, with a flat or vaulted top surface, with a stacking cap of thermoplastic plastic releasably mounted on the container""s top surface, the stacking cap being mounted, secure against displacement, on the container""s top surface. Furthermore, the mounting of the stacking cap on the container""s top surface is to take place cost-effectively and fully automatically.
This object is attained by a plastic container with a filling and pouring neck and a carrying handle, with a flat or vaulted upper surface, with a stacking cap of thermoplastic plastic releasably mounted on the upper surface of the container, in which the elastic connection between the container""s top surface and the stacking cap takes place by locking of the stacking cap to the container by means of teeth which spring into recesses.
In a preferred basic embodiment, the locking takes place such that teeth which are installed, longitudinally or transversely of the symmetry axis of the container, on the vertical webs, preferably the handle supports, located on the container""s top surface, lock under prestress into corresponding recesses of the stacking cap upon vertical mounting pressure of the same.
In another preferred basic embodiment of the plastic container according to the invention, the locking of the stacking cap takes place such that teeth installed on the stacking cap in the direction of its symmetry axis or transversely thereof lock into corresponding recesses on vertical projections situated on the container""s top surface upon vertically setting the stacking cap onto the container.